The World Group was the highest level of
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
competition in 2009. The first-round losers went into the
Davis Cup World Group Play-offs, and the winners progress to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinalists were guaranteed a World Group spot for 2010.
Participating Teams
Draw
First round
Argentina vs. Netherlands
Czech Republic vs. France
United States vs. Switzerland
Croatia vs. Chile
Sweden vs. Israel
Controversy and riots
Sweden attracted controversy when they forbade fans from seeing the matches inside the Baltic Hall, fearing anti-Israeli violence. Several Swedish politicians, including the mayor of Malmö and the head of the Green Party, said that they wanted to cancel the match instead of having an Israeli team play in the city, but after it was strongly pointed out that Sweden would suffer a forfeit loss and immediate elimination from the Cup tournament, the prospect of a cancellation was nixed. A proposal to move the matches to
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
fell through because of limited preparation time. Israeli player Andy Ram condemned the switch, calling it a "stupid decision". In the end, anti-Israel protesters rioted outside the stadium while the Swedish team was stunned when Israel defeated them.
The Davis Cup fined the Swedish tennis federation $25,000 and ordered them to pay an additional $15,000 in what would have been gate receipts. The city of Malmö was also banned from hosting Davis Cup matches for the next five years, and Sweden will lose its choice of venue if it happens again, being required to guarantee that future matches will be open to the public.
Davis Cup fines Swedish tennis for playing Israel without fans
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Romania vs. Russia
Germany vs. Austria
Spain vs. Serbia
Quarterfinals
Czech Republic vs. Argentina
Croatia vs. United States
Israel vs. Russia
Spain vs. Germany
Semifinals
Croatia vs. Czech Republic
Spain vs. Israel
Final
Spain vs. Czech Republic
References
{{Davis Cup
World Group
Davis Cup World Group